The Bank of England has released the 2013 statistics for the Credit Union sector. The full statistics are available from the Bank of England website. Unfortunately, the statistics do not show the previous year figures to allow a proper comparison. We have therefore provided a summary of some of the key trends based on the Bank of England report. All figures relate to the UK excluding Northern Ireland and are comparing 2013 results to the previous year.
Continued Growth for the Sector
The sector continued to grow throughout 2013 with:
- 3.36% adult membership growth compared to 2012
- 13.56% total asset growth
- 15.51% increase in deposits
- 9.39% increase in profits (surplus)Â before tax
Shares v Loans
The total level of loans compared to deposits (adult and juvenile shares) continued to decrease with a ratio of 68.6% compared to 75% in 2012. As discussed in our previous blogs the growth of shares over loans is a worrying trend for a number of Credit Unions.
Bad Debts
Last year we reported that there was a large increase in the cost of bad debts in the sector. We are pleased to say that this has been reversed in 2013 with a 11.66% decrease. This brings the total level of bad debt costs below even the 2011 levels.
Other Trends
A number of other trends to note:
- Grant income fell again this year by 14.4%
- As expected insurance commission fell for the third straight year.
- Large increase in investment income, particularly in England, mainly due to the level of funds on deposit.
- Decrease in number of returns submitted by 30 compared to last year.
It should be remembered that these figures relate to 2013 but they do show some interesting messages.